From taxi driver to net worth of Rs 42,000 crore: Meet Mukesh Jagtiani, one of UAE’s richest Indians

Dubai-based billionaire business magnate Micky Jagtiani has scripted one of the most remarkable success stories in recent times. The man who once drove a taxi and cleaned hotel rooms went on to become a poster boy for the success of Indian migrants in a land of new opportunities. 

Jagtiani was born in Kuwait but did his schooling in India from Chennai and Mumbai before going on to join an accounting school in London, UK but eventually dropped out. He began his career driving a taxi and as a hotel cleaner in London before fate struck and a personal tragedy saw his parents and brother pass away in a short span of time. 

Micky was left without a family and moved to Bahrain where he entered the business world for the first time with a baby products store he opened in 1973 with $6,000 inheritance money. Despite flunking out of accounting school, he began expanding his company with plenty of business acumen. After a decade of starting out, Micky expanded business to 6 stores and slowly and steadily to 6,000 stores in more than 20 countries from the Indian subcontinent and Middle East to Africa, Asia and Europe. 

In a remarkable four decade entrepreneurial career, Jagtiani has amassed a net worth of $5.2 billion (over Rs 42,800 crore), as of April 2023. His Dubai-headquartered Landmark Group churns out revenue of around $9.5 billion (over Rs 78,000 crore). Micky is married to Renuka Jagtiani who is today the CEO and chairperson of the billion-dollar conglomerate. The couple have three children - Aarti, Nisha and Rahul - all of whom are Group Directors with the company.